


Pressurized

by voleuse



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-22
Updated: 2006-08-22
Packaged: 2017-10-04 06:25:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>The cat has grown propellors, the cat is spinning out of sight.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Pressurized

**Author's Note:**

> S2, no spoilers. Title and summary adapted from Naomi Shihab Nye's _The Flying Cat_.

Cristina stops by Meredith's house for dinner, because Burke is in surgery, and the chief threatened to have security escort her off the premises if she clocked overtime again.

There's pizza and wine when she gets there, and they're on the sofa watching _Reality Bites_. Meredith is hugging a pillow, and Izzie is cutting pictures of Johnny Depp out of _Us Weekly_.

Cristina takes the glass out of George's hand and sprawls next to Meredith.

"Hey," Meredith says.

Cristina takes a long gulp of wine. "I hate you all."

*

 

In college, Cristina garnered the following extra-curriculars to her name:

  

  * Gamma Sigma Epsilon, executive VP
  

  * Pi Delta Phi
  

  * Kappa Mu Epsilon
  

  * Pre-Medical Club, service coordinator
  

  * French Club
  



 

She would have joined the Equestrian Club, but their first activity was a mixer with a _theme_. She didn't have time for making up cutesy nicknames for people she didn't care about.

*

 

As soon as she's not banished again, Cristina returns to the hospital. It happens to be at 5:30 a.m., but she's not one to quibble.

Burke finds her hovering by the nurses' station holding a box of doughnuts. He doffs his cap--it's orange and turquoise today--and grins. "What are you doing?"

"Bribing the nurses." Cristina flaps open the box, revealing eleven and a half pastries. "Want one?"

Burke reaches for the half, a torn maple twist.

"Uh-uh." Cristina leans away. "That one's mine."

He chuckles, grabs a pseudo-cinnamon roll instead. "What's the occasion?"

"You told me to play nice." Cristina tosses the box onto the counter. "This is me being nice."

Burke stares at her.

Around a bite of maple twist, Cristina mutters, "What?"

"Nothing." He smiles again. "Do you have time for a cup of coffee?"

"Um." Cristina looks down the corridor, but nothing's happening, and there are no nurses in sight. "Sure."

She fiddles with a paper napkin as they walk down the hallway, peering into patients rooms, just in case.

When they exit onto the patio, Burke touches his hand to her elbow, and she remembers to smile back, and she means it.


End file.
